Set 1:
Didley with the GD for the 1st set is unique.
Highlights for me --are that first 'Bo Diddley'
and 'I am a man'
the rest of the set kinda just repeats the theme of bluesman in the house.
Note: Pig graciously sits this set out.
Set 2:
How Sweet it is --WOW
Last Train-Phil & Donna singing with Garcia!
Next time you see me- PIG is the man, Harp and all
Just find this to be one of those evenings
that is outside the typical mold of shows.
Dig Garcia noodling 'B.E. Women'
Nice urgency to the Brown Eyed
Phil laying down that Bass line.
Smokestack-Pig fires up the harp again
Chromatically bringing the Lightning.
Jerry bending notes
I believe this is final Smokestack with PIGPEN
notice how PIG gives a nod to Bo with the sing song repeating of the line "I have been gone so long"
So I am thinking PIG took in that 1st set.
Wow, that was HOT!
Sitting on top---a riverboat Garcia tune.
The jam is so BIG RIVER!
and starting SEPT 72 the DEAD would switch
exclusively to BIG RIVER for that riverboat sound.
Another pristine LLR.
I guess if Bob ever achieved Da Blues
It would be this song
He introduced it as a "Crying Song" during this run.
To me this song was better with Donna Jean
also tune went from BLUES to LOVE SONG
circa 1976. and Yes let PHIL sing!
Also thinking that Keith or somebody
is using a Theremin. (might be the sit down Pedal Steel)
Bertha is moving a pretty urgent clip!
FEET DON'T TOUCH THE GROUND..
Set 3
The MISTER CHARLIE puts the Dead back in the zone.
No Harp for PIG here but he dials in the Band's mojo.
O.K so BTW is another Weir blues tune.
(off kilter when it was revived with lyric changes in 90)
That band to audience banter sounds pretty funny.
DEAL-Jerry has decided it is going to be Deal
as the in-band chatter goes on.
Very nice DEAL
funny how when the introduce Donna
they go quickly to introducing Keith as well.
PITB- I would call this Donna finding her niche.
Always felt she went well with the Dead's flow.
"Let them cast a stone at me
for Playing in the Band"
At the start she was pretty limited on what songs she sang on. It would have been interesting to see how she would have managed on the Pigpen tunes when Pig was performing them.
PITB is already stretched out from the 6 minute versions they were doing for most of 1971. Sounds like she was up on stage for this entire version. No way to do that as they started sending this tune into Dark Star territory.
a little put off by the loud drunk guy in the crowd?
Europe had to be a breath of fresh air to the band.
Garcia mentions Ramble on Rose.
I think they turn it over to PIG by default
Sounds like a time discussion.
This is a very good night for Pigpen
The man did not and does not receive the credit he deserved outside of GD circles.
So my take is that the Bo Diddley set primed the Dead
but the Diddley set was a little bit long time wise
at least if your main concern
like mine is the Band getting it's groove on.
The best analogy I can give was
I liked the 1st set of the Rainforest Benefit at MSG
but i also felt like it cut into
the Dead's potential for the evening.
Big jam,, everybody on board.
Who is singing with PIG on the early "Shine on me's"?
Pretty cool the way PIG draws the jam out of the boys.
One thing for sure, Keith got to spend some time under Pig's boogie woogie.
DO YOU FEEL ALRIGHT!
Empty Bed blues
If you couldn't get any with PIG on the mic?
Can I put my foot in your stirrup
pony and ride..
She's my rider!!!
Wang Dang territory.
so sweet, so nice, so tasty..
Waiting for somebody, you,me,everybody
to join PIg
"Shine on ME...
One of those moments
the boys just let RON go for it all..
"Come on , give it all up"
"This one is dedicated to all of us
who are in jail" -Phil
C-A-S-E-Y
J-O-N-E-S
Good mellow pace out of the gate
Boys sound so spent in a good way
Strong Bass lines from Phil.
yeah- so the entire sum of this night is *****
The double time during Casey Jones
is super brief and just right
"Good night everybody
and thanks a lot for coming"
Jerry Garcia

The first set is obviously historic and fun. The second has no real stretchers: Playin never really goes anywhere. Funner to be at, I'm sure.

Entertaining show with the Dead backing a set by opener Bo Diddley and then playing two sets. There were 7-of-8-days played at the Academy (Palladium) and in the middle was a party bought by the Hell's Angels (in lieu of standard promotion. Some have called it a "benefit" for the Angels by the Dead but that isn't supported by associated materials/publications). There are tickets that say it was sold as "Jerry Garcia & Friend" (meaning Diddley), but there was also a promotional poster by the Angels advertising the show as "Grateful Dead/Bo Diddley", indicating a more general promotion. Firsthand accounts recall sitting in the balcony or loge and watching the craziness on the floor (I think it was Kreutzmann who wrote about the motorcycles revving down a narrow hall into the backstage ). So it looks like the Hell's Angels booked the band, management agreed to the gig while set up at the Academy, under the name "Garcia & Friends" (the tix weren't in plural), then the Angels, needing to generate the fee for their private party, opened upper levels to limited public sales (hence the poster).
Diddley, like most of the original bluesman came from the "walking" tradition and would play with a local pick-up band - maybe he didn't even have a standing band at the time. Either the Dead were asked or they jumped at the chance and it was orchestrated. OTOH, it was NYC and you'd think Diddley had both an uptown band AND a downtown band. There's probably somebody around who knows.
The SBD in perfect shape suddenly became available in 2015, after decades of a poor AUD with wow, flutter, hiss, off-pitch, flux phasing, you name it, it had it. Isn't life amazing? Or at least the tech we wrought. This is supposedly Donna's first show after they officially agreed something or other (her first time singing on stage, after rehearsing with the band, was 12/31/71 - 6 shows prior). The "missing Good Lovin'" on some lists is just an old mistake. The miller setlist above is intact in the player but listed incorrectly in the text (missing Deal and Casey Jones and the Dead playing in two sets after Diddley).
First Set. The Diddley set is typical Diddley - in that it's not a showcase for the Dead - though the first track ("Bo Diddley" - it's not "Hey! Bo Diddley", which has different lyrics) is pretty good.
As for the Dead's 1st Set:
Though it was a standard throughout Jer's solo career, this is the only public performance by the Dead of How Sweet it Is, the Marvin Gaye song (it's a Holland-Dozier-Holland), and it's good enough to have been kept! Donna (in her first run) sounds very different than just a month later in Europe, sort of showing how much of her style was contrivance. Are You Lonely for Me (the Freddie Scott song) is also the only one (no doubt a result of the semi-private atmosphere) but doesn't come off as well. The rest is slick; starting to sound like E72. Smokestack has an interesting wrestle over Truckin' @10min. An ace Sittin' on Top of the World (one of the last) has the extra verse (sources have crackles). Jer is on pedal steel and Phil takes harmony on Looks Like Rain - it comes out unique (there's some bad buzzing). Bertha is an average outing then Jer calls end-of-set.
Second Set. Not the best set of the run, but Black Throated Wind is an example of how Bobby could get across on passion alone when he first played his songs. Deal is where the passion and the playing collude, with terrific Bobby fills, an extra measure of Jer and firey X factor. Playin' not so much - loose and with frightening Donnaskreech™ - her first at this adventitious level; so there's that. There's some good playing in Lovelight and a perfunctory Casey Jones.
1st Set:   B-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3¼ Stars
Highlights:
How Sweet it Is - the only one yet not a throwaway
Sittin' on Top of the World - extra verse and played well before put to bed
Deal - right where they were getting on top of it
SOURCES: The miller.flac1644 was the first great source of the show (rough AUD frags used to circulate). The miller.flac1648 is a mirror. The sirmick.flac1648 is nicely fixed but extremely cut/tracked. Dick's Picks #30 has the two one-offs plus Smokestack. Unusually, for a Dead release, it also has 5 songs from Bo Diddley's opening set. Also, the first disc is the bonus disc.

Awesome to hear Bo Diddley too. This is a really nice show all around.